Swaziland : Vernacular architecture

During our trip to South Africa we passed a couple of days in Swaziland. 

This independent Kingdom,was able to escape the racial tension that affected (and still affects) South Africa.

The landscape was very striking, and 

 I especially liked the reconstruction of the traditional village.

Each construction has an spatial function or is the room of a member of the family.

South Africa, Cape Town

We didn't organise this trip. It was the first organized tour we had ever taken. 

The company that I work for gave me (as the Godfather would say) "an offer you can't refuse" : a heavily subsidized trip, a car with a GPS, and the only "obligation" was to sleep in their 3 or 4 star lodges.

We jumped on the occasion and we enjoyed a great trip: driving the area of Cape Town, National Parks and going on safaris to see the Big Five. 

These sketches were made in Cape Town. 

The Cape area is huge. We had a rented car to drive around, visit some coastal towns and national parks. We finished the tour in the Cape of Good Hope, a mythical historical place.

These sketches were made in the penguin reserve.

I associate penguins with cold weather, but here they were sun bathing.

In Cape Town there are a bunch of nice colonial buildings. It reminds me of Melbounre

This one was done in the Table Mountain National Park. It shows the "Lion Head" hill and Cape Town Bay

Iceland 2/2

A glance of Iceland:

- A coffee stop on the way

- One of the many lighthouses 

- A Puffin bird (almost a national emblem)

- Landscape architecture in one of the Fjords

- A replica of the first settlements 

Amazing Iceland

Iceland 1/2

Iceland was not the most appealing destination for me. I love to visit places were I can find a mix between nice cities, archaeology, nice beaches and good food. Furthermore, I was convinced that there is no natural beauty that can match the Chilean and Argentinean Patagonia.

For all those reasons Iceland was not on my bucket list. How wrong I was. Having the opportunity to see a geologically "young" island was a real delight. The landscape was striking and dramatic and the continuous change of the scenery was thrilling. Hot water waterfalls, "marbled" icebergs with black ashes, waterfalls that do not touch the ground because the wind is so strong that it fades away and a big etcetera.

We spent two weeks road tripping around the island in the most beautiful nature I have ever seen.

Picardie, France: bike trip

I went in  july to Picardie for the day. I took the train and I biked 40K.

I wanted to see Saint-germer-de-fly's abbey, an impressive gothic building. 

Coming back to the station I passed trough Givors, and I sketched the Castle.

Santorini, Greece

I spent some days in Santorini. 

I had mixed feelings about this place : It is really very beautiful and super interesting, but massive tourism can be a real turn off.

Anyway the highlights were : the cities hanging over the cliff (Oia & Thira), the amazing archeological site Akrotiri (probably the Atlantis), the volcanic landscape.....and of course the food.

(These are some of my first attempts to use watercolor....it is very difficult to get it right).

Zeus' Temple in Athens

These ruins are extremely appealing. You can spot them from the Acropolis and you immediately wonder how to get there to get a closer look.

The construction of the Zeus Temple took almost 700 year to be completed. It was the Roman emperor Hadrian who ordered it to be finished. One century later it was pillaged and never repaired. In the following centuries it was used as a quarry for the construction of other buildings.

The size of the remaining columns give us an idea of the massive dimensions of the original temple.